Monday Morning Amusement

I used this video yesterday when teaching our youth Sunday morning class. I thought I would share it with you, my blog-friends. If you read the note from facebook you won't be able to see the video so click on the link to the original post.

Enjoy!

Priorities and Presence

There are three great loves in my life:

• My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
• My Wife and Children.
• The Church and its Mission.

There are three small loves in my life:

• Music (writing, performing, listening)
• The great outdoors (hunting, fishing, hiking, camping)
• Technology (I really am a geek, cleverly disguised)

Often such ideals are expressed in terms of priority, in the form of a bulleted list with the most important residing precariously at the top. I have found that while there are things that are more important than others, they are not expressed in real life scenarios in bullet form. Often the less important and the more important are next-door neighbors, and often roommates. They all occupy the same space and time. In fact space and time are what make them important. While it is true that I love my family more than I love music, I can easily spend more time on an average day listening to music in the car, in my office, on my ipod, than I do with my family. Does that automatically require that it move up the bulleted list of values in my life? I believe this to not be the case. While one cannot dismiss the quantity of time spent on something as an indicator of importance, it is not the only indicator. One indicator that I believe is crucial to declaring value, and priority is presence. We all can make a list of events that we attended that we were not present at. Whether it was a Sunday morning church service that we spent most of checking the scores of the game on our phone, a meeting where the most of our mental energy went into something taking place elsewhere, or a family dinner that we were disengaged from because of some distraction. I believe that the more we multi-task during a given event, meeting, or relationship, the message that we proclaim is that it may be important, but there are many other things that are just as important right now, so I will share this time with them. Back to the music and family analogy—I may listen to music while I am responding to emails or making phone calls, but in our house we do not typically listen to music during dinner. For me it is not a mood setter, but an attention getter. I do not have the capacity to allow music to be white noise. I will feel the need to analyze lyrics, musical features, and it will be splitting my attention from my family. I try and practice the discipline of presence to show my family and my self that this is a priority moment.

Recently I had a moment of epiphany regarding this idea of presence. As a lover of technology, my phone is one of the interfaces with technology that is important to me. I can check sports scores, send and receive text messages, emails, phone calls, browse the news, watch videos. It is simply amazing what can be accomplished on a phone today! However, all of these tasks and conveniences come at a price. That price is often seen in presence. How many times have we allowed an important conversation to be interrupted by an incoming call, or text? How many times have we allowed our attention to stray from the moment, to somewhere else because we were reading an email. The prophet Isaiah describes people who “have eyes but are blind,” and “have ears but are deaf.” I believe that by denying our presence to a given moment we are denying the ability of our eyes to see and our ears to hear. God gave me this thought,

“what if the things that I am listening to are keeping me from hearing the things that I really need to? What if the things that are occupying my time are not the most important things?”

I was convicted by this thought, and I resolved that I would make efforts to be present, especially when it came to the big 3 in my life. I made the decision that for a given period of time I would only carry my cell phone during business hours. When I arrived at home I put my phone away. If someone called during that time, they could leave me a voicemail. If they texted me, I would text them back tomorrow. If they emailed me, I would delete it tomorrow (after I replied of course)! I found this to be a freeing exercise. I was no longer being pulled in several directions at one time, but free to be present in the moment that I chose. Since that time, I have resumed carrying my phone with me, but I no longer feel the need to look at who is calling every time it rings, or to answer every email or text immediately. In my opinion, the more instant a communication is does not render it more efficient, simply more convenient. We should never confuse convenience with efficacy.

I think there is an important distinction to make here. I am not saying that in order to communicate priority and presence your environment must be completely clear of any form of distraction. What is required even more is a focus, or mental clarity in any given scenario. The environments that you are able actually control are likely to be non-existent, which would require more of a mental and relational discipline rather than a physical one. However the physical manifestation of such discipline can be the gateway and even catalyst to the mental and relational practice of it. This is what was demonstrated in my phone fast. The initial physical act of placing my phone away, lead me to an adoption of that discipline in a mental and relational form. Now I can carry my phone in my pocket and still maintain mental focus and presence in spite of it. My ability to be in the present is not dictated by the distractions.

So the theory is, the things with a higher level of importance are treated with a greater degree of presence. More presence, more importance.

What are they ways that I elevate the important things in my day?

What are the things that are the primary usurpers of my presence?

Do the things that I give more presence to result in a greater outcome than those that receive less presence?

Does it irritate me when others are not present in a moment that is important to me?

In addition to these thoughts:

Should the church be added into the list of great loves of my life? I mean, as a believer have I ever been commended in the Scriptures to love the church? I know that the Scriptures give the command to love the Lord, love the people around me, and to love my wife (in the same way that CHRIST loved the church). Should I demote the church to one of the lesser loves in my life?

For the Love of Electricity

Steve was right...just a few moments after my last post, the power came back on. The coffee must have helped. Actually after my wife said it, I began to think about how much we depend on electricity. Without it, we really can't get much done in our day and age. It's funny how something you can see most of the time, can become so integral to life.

When you think about it, most of the absolutely vital elements of life are similar: you cannot see them most of the time, and they become more obvious in their absence. Think about the simple "invisible" necessities of life that you may take for granted. Cherish and appreciate them.

Love. Faith. Happiness. Significance. Purpose.

Whether it is in your family, your workplace, your friendships, or in your personal thoughts, take time to recognize the important invisibles.

Blogging Unplugged

I never imagined that I would be writing a blog with no power! Last night a drunk driver (a little too happy St. Patty's day), hit a power pole next to our house, and knocked out power to the whole neighborhood. Good thing my trusty Macbook has a charged battery, and I can connect to the internet through my trusty TMobile Dash. Desperate times call for more technology.

So as we got up this morning we realized that we couldn't make coffee at home (no, my macbook and Dash can't do that yet, but I am still holding out for the iLatte--come on Steve Jobs), so we piled into the car and headed down to Cafe Ladro in Bothell. We picked up a few hot coffees for the power crew who have been working since like 2:00am....they looked surprised.

It is amazing to me how even as I sit typing, and the temperature inside the house is dropping into the upper 50's, I can still connect and post a blog. What a day!

So hopefully the power crews can get things patched up, and things will get back to normal, but hey, abnormal is the new normal!

The Big Idea

Just started reading The Big Idea last night while watching The Biggest Loser. The first chapter got me kind of irritated, but as I started reading the second chapter I cooled down a bit. I will post a review when I finish the book, but I think it will be a good read.

Review: Chuck Norris on WorldnetDaily

Just read an interesting article by none other than Walker Texas Ranger himself.

I was quite impressed with the depth of insight that the Ranger brought to the subject. Apparently he is not only skilled with a roundhouse kick to the face, but also pretty good with words.

Here is what the article dealt with:

Apparently a California Appellate Court just ruled that homeschooling is unconstitutional and even unlawful. Wow! Apparently some judges fail to realize that some of the greatest leaders America has ever produced were educated by farmers, parents, and other "non-trained" individuals.

Chuck gives a great set of responses to the decision that concerned citizens should consider.

My favorite quote from Chuck: "And don't forget to appeal to my old buddy the Governator. Tell him to flex his muscle on this appellate motion, or Texas might have to export a Ranger to get 'er done!"

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Why I Love the Biggest Loser

Part 3 of my perspective on what makes ministry fulfilling and worthwhile:

I love NBC's The Biggest Loser. I'm not really a regular watcher of the show, but I enjoy watching the premier, and the finale. I know that's not really the kind of fan that the executives over at NBC are excited about, but it's not the show that I love so much as the idea that it represents: It shows that America still believes that people can change. I will admit, for the most part the change that is seen on the show is pretty shallow, but there are some significant life changes that are made as a result of the show. People whose weight was a risk to their health and future literally, in front of millions of Americans, transform into new people with new habits, and a new lease on life.

Isn't that really what faith does for us? We have struggles, fears, habits, and vices in our lives that we feel are impassable (at least on our own) and the Spirit of Christ in us makes us believe that we can change, that we can as the Apostle Paul said "be transformed" (Rom 12:2).

Well, why is it that we can see change in front of us on TV every Tuesday night, but when it comes to our own lives, our families, co-workers, friends, and communities we so quickly throw in the towel of hope and say that there is no way?

It is time for a change in our thinking.

It is time that we begin to believe in the life transforming power of the Good News of Jesus Christ. It is time that we begin to believe the truth, that:
Anyone can change.
Anyone can be saved.
Anyone can be healed.
Any family can be changed by Christ.
Any situation can turn for the good.

In Mark 6 there is a story about Jesus' disciples rowing across the Sea of Galilee when a storm came up and prevented them from crossing easily. Actually by verse 48, I’d be willing to bet these guys didn’t even think they would make it across at all. It was at that darkest moment when Jesus appeared to them (actually he came to them walking on the water). It is interesting to me that Jesus chose to come to them walking on the thing that they were most afraid of at the time: the WATER. They thought they were going to drown, or be overcome by the waves, but Jesus showed that he was greater than their biggest fear.

I think he does the same thing for us today. Sometimes it gets dark and downright frightening. All we can see is the impossibility around us, and we lose hope. But here comes Jesus speaking confidently to us:

"There are no lost causes."

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