It has been a wild roller-coaster ride over the last few years.  Since leaving “occupational ministry” I have  begun to wear several hats.  I love my life “outside” of the ministry profession.  I have been challenged, blessed, and struggled through self-worth and finding validation through my work, my loves, and my passions.

In other words… I have had my ass kicked and God has STILL been there for me and Sarah.

The website looks a little different…as I do as well.  I have been very slack about posting.  Some of that is due to some real technical issues I have been struggling with, but those have been solved (thanks Tech Support).  But mainly, I have been silent because I feel that at some point, I lost my voice.

Not being in a church leadership position made re-evaluate who I was and what my blog (and my whole live) would be focused on.  And then I realized that nothing changed about the focus…what changed was my audience.  The people who will read this are friends, family, and people I want to be closer to, but also people who are struggling with some of the same issue I have (and still are) dealing with.

For all of you, let me say this: there IS hope.  There IS a reason everything is happening to and around you.  God is ALWAYS there and wants you to be the best you can be.  Lead with all gusto and passion.  Fight the good fight and NEVER give up.

The payoff is STILL worth is and no matter what HAS happened, it’s nowhere near as good as what WILL happen if you focus on leading yourself and others as best as you can!

See you in a day or two and we’ll talk about the lessons I learned at my FIRST GUN SHOW!!  It was a blast!! (Sorry, couldn’t resist)

I was reading in Genesis 11:1-9, the story of the Tower of Babel.  If you are unfamiliar with the story, immediately after Noah and his family are released from the Ark, God tells them to “be fruitful and multiply.”  And as the world becomes more and more populated the people decide to build for themselves a tower to make a name for themselves.  And God say this and aid to himself, “they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.”  After realizing this, God confused their languages and spread them all over the earth. So they never finished building the tower and God called the place Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth.

And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.

And I asked myself: What did God see in those people that he decided to confuse their language and spread them all over the earth?

Did God know that they would play God ourselves with technology and begin to clone human beings in their own image?  Or did He see that they would begin to choose exactly what their children would look like, even before they were born?

Perhaps God foresaw that they would build machines that would allow them gaze into the outer reaches of the universe and actually see Heaven and no longer wonder about its existence, therefore taking away the need for faith?

What did God see that people setting their minds to that they would accomplish, so much so that even God said that it would be IMPOSSIBLE for them to not succeed?

(via www.scienceblogs.com)

Maybe God only postponed the inevitable and we are that future people, surpassing language and distance through the internet and advanced learning of language and technology?  It does make you wonder…

What do you think that God saw that people setting their minds to?

It’s been a LONG time since I did a Sunday Night Decompress…and it’s been a while since I darkened the door of a church.  And since I went to church this morning, I thought I might as well drop a little decompress on you!  Sometimes you don’t have ANYTHING to say, and sometimes you have STUFF to say…today is that day…

So without any further adieu, here goes!

• Have I mentioned lately that it’s FOOTBALL SEASON!!!???  Thank you Lord, and Hockey season is coming!
• I went to New Walk Church today – one of my favorites and several friends have been attending lately.  As always, great music, great speaking, and great to see so many old friends!
• After church Sid and I spent some time at Smokey Bones for lunch.  We had received some gift cards way back when, and finally got around to using them!  I *heart* good BBQ!
• We spent a few hours running SUPER SECRET errands…more on that MUCH later.
• It’s Sunday in Fall, so that means football and ANOTHER day of the Bucs sucking their way through a game…BUT my Dirty Birds (Falcons) pulled an upset in New Orleans! WOW!
• It’s Sunday and that ALSO means taping a nap with my lovely bride in the afternoon…  Ahhhhh life
• After we woke up it was time for our late night run: 3.1 miles at an 18 minute pace – not great, but better than a year ago.  (A year ago, I was a couch potato…so ANYTHING is better than last year, and NEXT year will be better than THIS year!)
• Got home and had a little dinner and Undercover Boss – INSPIRATIONAL!
• Heading to a really much needed sleep!

LOOKING AHEAD

• On Friday Mom and Jim come in for a few weeks in FLA (we’re spending 3 nights at Disney, which is AWESOME!)
• Saturday AM Mom, Sid, and myself will be running/walking in Mickey’s Halloween 5K and then in the late PM, Sid and I will be running in the Wine and Dine 1/2 Marathon Relay!  Prayers are VERY welcome.
• Sunday night the whole family is attending Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party in Magic Kingdom – very excited!!
• Sid starts working in Orlando on Wednesday – which will be great and nerve wracking all at once.  She’s commuting and starting a job custom made for her.  It’s truly a blessing.
• I hope to be blogging more…I have some topics to unpack, but it may be uncomfortable for me to write and for you to read.  We shall see…

From the Made to Stick website:

Why do some ideas thrive while others die? And how do we improve the chances of worthy ideas? In Made to Stick, accomplished educators and idea collectors Chip and Dan Heath tackle head-on these vexing questions.

I loved Made to Stick.  Chip and Dan Heath unpacked their research in a memorable (sticky) fashion that was challenging, insightful, inspiring, and often, humorous.  In Made to Stick, they unveiled their pattern, not template, for ideas to become “sticky”.

Six “sticky” traits: Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, Stories = SUCCES(s).

Chip and Dan used several real-world stories as examples of ideas that were simple and unexpected, using concrete, credible terms, drawing  upon emotions, usually by utilizing stories.  We can educate, lead, challenge, and communicate better with ideas that are as sticky as possible, and Made to Stick helps us accomplish this.

I believe that every leader should read this book.  It will help them to be better communicators and will make their teams more productive and successful.

I also believe that every pastor, small group leader, church leader, and minister should read this book.  We have the GREATEST story EVER told, the Life of Jesus, and the Bible is FULL of stories that fall right in line with their SUCCESs pattern.

A sticky idea is understood, it’s remembered, and it changes something. Sticky ideas of all kinds—ranging from the “kidney thieves” urban legend to JFK’s “Man on the Moon” speech—have six traits in common. If you make use of these traits in your communication, you’ll makeyour ideas stickier. (You don’t need all 6 [traits] to have a sticky idea, but it’s fair to say the more, the better!)

- Chip and Dan Heath, Made to Stick